The architect Robert Adam described Kenwood as ‘a beautiful villa belonging to Lord Mansfield, the friend of every elegant art and useful science’. The villa that Adam remodelled in the 1760s and 1770s stands in 74 acres of gardens and woodland affording fine views towards the City of London, and is home to a renowned collection of paintings, the Iveagh Bequest, collected in the late 19th century by the Irish brewing magnate and philanthropist Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh. Lord Iveagh bequeathed Kenwood House, the grounds and the collection to the nation in 1928.

The first floor of Kenwood houses the Suffolk Collection, a superb collection of mostly 17th century portraits of Stuart monarchs, courtiers and members of the Howard family who have borne the titles Earl and Countess of Suffolk since 1603. The collection belonged to Margaret “Daisy” Leiter Howard, widow of the 19th Earl of Suffolk, who made provision in her will to gift the collection to the nation, an arrangement which was brought to fruition by by her daughter-in-law, Mary Greville Howard.

Layout and Exterior

Adam’s adaptation from 1764 to 1779 of an existing building for his client, William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, led to the addition of the impressive colonnaded portico on the north front, and the celebrated south front (and terrace).

On the west side of the house is an orangery, probably built in the 1740s by Lord Bute. Adam’s addition of the library to the east of the south elevation, with the same volume as the orangery, was an ingenious way of providing a symmetrical façade.

The two wings to the north-east and north-west of the house, providing a dining room and a music room, were added in the 1790s by George Saunders for David Murray, 2nd Earl of Mansfield, who wished to adapt Kenwood from a villa into his main family residence. The 2nd Earl was also responsible for the addition of the service wing on the eastern side, which was cleverly hidden by his new dining-room wing. Adam had applied stucco or ‘Liardet’s cement’ to the exterior, which had failed and caused severe problems. This contributed to the 2nd Earl’s decision to face the new wings in white Suffolk brick, thus distinguishing them visually from Adam’s work. The stone colour in which the 2nd Earl had the wings painted was revealed in recent paint analysis and was recreated in 2013.

Interior

Despite the symmetry of the exterior, the proportions of the rooms are modest – particularly the entrance hall, which doubled as a dining room. This was partly disguised by Adam’s decorative scheme throughout the house, with an integrated colour palette and ceiling designs.

The entrance hall and library both retain the original decorative ceiling paintings executed by the Venetian artist Antonio Zucchi. Some of the original furnishings in Adam’s schemes have been acquired by English Heritage and returned to the library and entrance hall.

The Iveagh Bequest

The south front rooms have been much altered since Adam’s original redecoration of the 1760s and 1770s. Most recently, in the 1920s, they were converted for use as an art gallery for the Iveagh Bequest.

The Iveagh Bequest is the finest collection of Old Master paintings given to the British nation in the 20th century. Under the terms of the Bequest, the paintings displayed at Kenwood guarantee its role as a free public art gallery.

The 63 paintings can be divided into distinct groups. The first and largest group comprises British portraits of the second half of the 18th century, including Thomas Gainsborough’s Mary, Countess Howe, and works by Sir Joshua Reynolds and George Romney.

The second group consists of major paintings of international standing, predominantly drawn from the 17th century Dutch and Flemish schools. Some works, including Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait (c 1665) and Johannes Vermeer’s The Guitar Player (c 1672), are among the finest paintings by their respective artists.

There is also a small group of French paintings of the Rococo period.

The Kenwood estate and collection are held under a trust deed confirmed by Act of Parliament, the Iveagh Bequest (Kenwood) Act 1929. Curatorship of the Bequest transferred to London County Council following World War II and was taken over by the Greater London Council (GLC) in 1965; following the GLC’s demise in 1986, English Heritage took over responsibility for the estate.

Further information on Kenwood’s history and collections can be found on English Heritage’s website: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/kenwood/

Our thanks to English Heritage for permission to use copyright text and images on our website.

Highlights from the Collection